Chest freezer vs a second fridge in the garage

Chest freezer costs less by

$67a year

$675 over ten years · chest freezer uses 52% less electricity

Chest freezer 342 kWh a year against 710 kWh — at the US average rate of 18.34¢/kWh.

Chest freezer342 kWh$63

Garage refrigerator710 kWh$130

The verdict

The second refrigerator costs more, despite keeping its contents warmer. It is usually older, its door seals are usually tired, it is opened more often, and cold air falls out of an upright every time it is. A chest freezer holds its cold when the lid opens and, being denser and better insulated, cycles less. The one keeping things colder is the cheaper one.

Side by side

Chest freezer and garage refrigerator are costed by the same function from the same dataset, so the $67 between them is a difference in the appliances and not in how each was measured. Chest freezer draws an average 39 W across the hours it runs; garage refrigerator draws 81 W across its own.

Both at 18.34¢/kWh, the EIA residential average for June 2026. Ten years is roughly the service life of either.

	Chest freezer	Garage refrigerator	Difference
Electricity a year	342 kWh	710 kWh	368 kWh
Cost a year	$63	$130	$67
Cost a month	$5.22	$11	$5.62
Over ten years	$627	$1,301	$675

The assumptions behind those figures

Nothing above is a manufacturer’s claim. 130 W at 30% for 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, is where chest freezer’s 342 kWh comes from; 180 W at 45% for 24 hours over 365 days is where garage refrigerator’s 710 kWh comes from. The duty cycle is the input most published comparisons leave out, and it is why the ratings and the running costs are not in the same proportion here.

Change any of these on the appliance’s own page and every figure moves with it. The duty cycle is a property of the machine; the hours are a property of you.

	Chest freezer	Garage refrigerator
Rated power	130 W	180 W
Duty cycle	30%	45%
Hours a day in service	24	24
Days a year	365	365
Average draw while in service	39 W	81 W

What the gap is worth at your rate

Nothing here is a purchase decision, so there is no payback to compute. But $67 is the gap at the national average, and what it is worth to you depends on your rate — which varies more across the country than the difference between these two.

Your state

Residential average for June 2026, from the EIA. Your own tariff may differ; you can read it off your bill.

Chest freezer: $63
Garage refrigerator: $130
A year apart: $67
Over ten years: $675

In the US average at 18.34¢ per kWh. Both figures on the standard assumptions printed above; your rate is the input that moves the gap most.

The gap in your state

The appliances are the same everywhere; the rate is not. The gap between these two is worth $194 a year in Hawaii and $48 in Nevada — 4× apart, on identical appliances.

A year of each, by state. Residential average price, EIA June 2026.

State	Rate	Chest freezer	Garage refrigerator	Difference
Hawaii	52.72¢	$180	$374	$194
California	34.74¢	$119	$247	$128
Massachusetts	29.61¢	$101	$210	$109
Maine	29.59¢	$101	$210	$109
New York	29.49¢	$101	$209	$108
Rhode Island	29.23¢	$100	$207	$108
Alaska	28.21¢	$96	$200	$104
New Hampshire	27.01¢	$92	$192	$99
New Jersey	24.95¢	$85	$177	$92
Vermont	24.44¢	$83	$173	$90
District of Columbia	24.39¢	$83	$173	$90
Connecticut	24.32¢	$83	$173	$89
Michigan	22.99¢	$79	$163	$85
Maryland	21.84¢	$75	$155	$80
Pennsylvania	21.73¢	$74	$154	$80
Illinois	19.89¢	$68	$141	$73
Wisconsin	19.56¢	$67	$139	$72
Delaware	19.29¢	$66	$137	$71
Ohio	19.19¢	$66	$136	$71
Minnesota	17.52¢	$60	$124	$64
Indiana	17.51¢	$60	$124	$64
Virginia	17.22¢	$59	$122	$63
Colorado	17.13¢	$59	$122	$63
Alabama	16.4¢	$56	$116	$60
Georgia	16.36¢	$56	$116	$60
Oregon	16.32¢	$56	$116	$60
Missouri	16.22¢	$55	$115	$60
Texas	15.94¢	$54	$113	$59
Iowa	15.93¢	$54	$113	$59
Kansas	15.71¢	$54	$111	$58
South Carolina	15.55¢	$53	$110	$57
West Virginia	15.45¢	$53	$110	$57
South Dakota	15.36¢	$52	$109	$57
Wyoming	15.24¢	$52	$108	$56
Arizona	15.18¢	$52	$108	$56
Montana	15.14¢	$52	$107	$56
Florida	15.1¢	$52	$107	$56
New Mexico	15.06¢	$51	$107	$55
Washington	14.91¢	$51	$106	$55
Mississippi	14.88¢	$51	$106	$55
North Carolina	14.74¢	$50	$105	$54
Idaho	14.37¢	$49	$102	$53
Oklahoma	14.33¢	$49	$102	$53
Kentucky	14.26¢	$49	$101	$52
Arkansas	14.12¢	$48	$100	$52
North Dakota	14.12¢	$48	$100	$52
Tennessee	14.07¢	$48	$100	$52
Louisiana	13.49¢	$46	$96	$50
Utah	13.37¢	$46	$95	$49
Nebraska	13.25¢	$45	$94	$49
Nevada	13.11¢	$45	$93	$48

Questions

Which costs more to run: a chest freezer or an old second refrigerator?

The second refrigerator costs more, despite keeping its contents warmer. On the assumptions printed above, chest freezer costs $63 a year and garage refrigerator costs $130 at 18.34¢ per kilowatt-hour — a difference of $67 a year, or $675 over ten years at today’s rate.

How is chest freezer’s 342 kWh a year calculated?

Rated watts × duty cycle × hours × days, plus standby, times your rate — the same function that produces every figure on this site. For chest freezer: 130 W × 30% × 24 h × 365 days ÷ 1,000 = 342 kWh, which at 18.34¢ is $63. Garage refrigerator runs through the identical arithmetic on its own assumptions and lands at $130. The rate is the EIA residential average for June 2026; nothing here is a manufacturer’s claim.

How do I know if mine is the problem?

Meter it for a fortnight with a plug-in energy monitor, or switch it off for a week and compare meter readings. An old second refrigerator commonly costs more per year to run than a new one costs to buy.

Does filling a freezer help?

Yes. Frozen mass holds temperature between compressor cycles, so a full freezer runs less than an empty one. Filling the empty space with water bottles measurably lowers the duty cycle.

Does my state change the answer?

It changes the size of the gap, never its direction. The same pair costs $194 a year apart in Hawaii and $48 in Nevada. Whichever uses less electricity uses less everywhere; only what that is worth moves.

Air fryer vs electric oven
$44 a year apart
Does an air fryer really use less electricity than the oven?

Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Electric Power Monthly, Table 5.6.A, June 2026. U.S. Government work, public domain.

How every figure on this page is computed · Where the data comes from